The following is a letter to the local press and others requesting to keep open the High St entrance/exit of New Malden Station, and ask that everyone similalrly writes as well.
Dear Editor,
Plea to keep open ‘Pearly’ gates
KATA is dumbfounded by South West Trains’ decision to block off the the High Street/Twin Towers entrance to New Malden station which will cause untold inconvenience to users. SWT claim that they can’t install the new Oyster Ticket gates on this south-side because of a lack of space and instead are putting all of them by the ticket office on the Coombe Road/north-side, so that access to down trains (Kingston etc) will only be via the tunnel under the tracks.
The reality is that they could put some on the south-side but would need to be manned by SWT staff which they don’t want to pay for, despite the £millions made in profits each year by it and parent company Stagecoach.
In addition, all three bus stops are on the south-side and will make a nonsence of a public transport interchange. The stop/stand of the K1 (to Malden Manor etc) is on the forecourt of the south-side and users are going to have to trek around the station, in rain etc. Equally, the pair of 213 stops are now by the twin-towers.
Note that the train operators are not paying for these Oyster gates but rather us Londoners are through the Mayor of London and TfL at a cost of £20million, at the last count. Accordingly, we at KATA have written to Mayor Johnson, who is also Chair of TfL, to stop this retrograde move by SWT and to keep the entrance/exit open.
If not then those alighting from trains from Waterloo etc will have to trek all under the station and out via the barriers into Coombe Road, then back under the bridge towards High Street.
Finally, to keep the entrance open, we urge everyone to write/email to the following:
Mayor of London, City Hall, SE1 2AA
Ed Davey MP, 21 Berrylands Road, KT5 8QX
Customer ServiceS, SWT, Overline House, Blechynden Terrace, Southampton, SO15 1GW
Tony Adams
Chair - Kingston Area Travellers' Association